The Division April Update: Details on Trading, Incursions, and Gear Sets

The Division developer Massive Entertainment today detailed the big, free update coming to the game in April, which introduces its first Incursion.

Called Falcon Lost, this is an end-game mission that represents the first Incursion--basically, The Division's take on raids. It's a high-end task that will challenge players and require a good deal of teamwork in order to complete. You can use matchmaking to get teammates, but however your team is assembled, there are no checkpoints. That means if your team wipes, you'll have to start over.

You'll need roughly level 31 gear to be capable of taking on the challenge. There's also a higher difficulty mode that the developers recommend only for players who have collected the new gear sets coming in this update.

Several new sets are being introduced, and by equipping matching gear sets, you'll be able to unlock specific talents. Most of these sets are found in Falcon Lost, but it's possible to get them in other ways (and one, specifically, can't be found in the Incursion). The four sets are called Sentry's Call (precision-focused), Striker's Battle Gear (assault-oriented), Technician's Authority (for players supporting a team with healing), and Path of the Nomad (earned in the Dark Zone).

There's a special weekly reward for completing an Incursion, but you can still replay it over and over to get good rewards. But you'll only be entitled to that weekly reward after the first time you complete the Incursion each week. This weekly reward can be earned on each of your characters.

Trading also makes its debut in this update. Rather than doing this through menus, you'll instead trade items by simply dropping them on the ground--this will allow other players in your group to then pick them up. (If you're in the Dark Zone, you'll need to first make it to a gate before being able to drop an item.) However, those players will need to have been with you when you acquired the item to be eligible. Also, much like Diablo III, there is a timer: You'll have two hours to transfer an item after it first drops.

One important thing to be aware of is that anyone in your group can pick up an item (provided they were there when it initially dropped). That means if you're playing with a friend and two random people, you'll need to be careful about transferring an item to that friend.

Other new features in this update include a spectator camera and assignments (weekly and daily missions that reward you with Phoenix credits). Supply drops are also new; these are dropped into the Dark Zone and are surrounded by tough enemies. The first player or group to collect it will earn a reward that--unlike other Dark Zone goodies--don't need to be extracted.

The Incursion update launches for free on April 12. Another free update called Conflict will deliver an Incursion set in Columbus Circle at some point in the future.